Nothing to blog about today. The last and next few hours have been wasted invested in cramming for my French exam Tuesday at 8:15. Souhaitez-me bonne chance!
I’m right on the brink of achieving the levels I need, so depending on the amount of sleep I get Monday night and the relative positions of Venus and Jupiter, it could go either way.
For civil servants in Canada, if your position is deemed bilingual, you have to be retested every five years, unless you get the golden ‘exempt’ score. Kind of like the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I myself aspire to a much more lowly intermediate score, or B level. As of today, my job doesn’t hinge on being able to achieve my levels, but I’m in a pool of qualified candidates for a promotion and I can’t lock it in until I confirm my language levels. This is kind of a practice run, but if I succeed I can sock away my results for another five years.
After many years of on-and-off language training, and investing three to four hours a week of in-class training for the past year, I think my proficiency in French is as good as it’s ever been. I can follow a conversation with relative ease, and even contribute well enough to be understood, if not in a grammatically gorgeous kind of way. I’m actually quite pleased with my progress in general, but in preparing for the exam I’ve taken a series of practice tests – and scored lower on each successive test.
So think a kind thought for me tomorrow as I try to conjugate the subjunctive and identify my si clauses and distinguish between direct and indirect objects… and still have enough brain cells left over to tie my shoes.
Related posts (automatically generated):
- Again with the French lessons So I’m still taking French lessons. Four hours a day, two days a week. I think I’m improving, because the voices in my head speak an endearing Franglais for a couple hours after each class, so that’s got to count for something. I’ve taken a LOT of French lessons in...
- Conquering the French Oh, the irony! Yesterday, I took my dreaded oral exam for the third time since February. Less than 22 hours later, I read this article in the Citizen about how the public service is finally revisiting how it evaluates second-language capability, and how they’ll be moving from a (positively painful)...
- Mrs., Ms., and Missing the point There was an article in the Citizen this morning (sorry, not in their online edition, but it’s a syndication of this London Times article) about the movement in France to stop differentiating between madame and mademoiselle, the French versions of Mrs. and Miss. Feminists are calling the distinction between the...
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em dead.
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em dead.
thinking of you this morning!
thinking of you this morning!
Good luck! I am always so impressed by anyone who can speak or read or write more than one language.
Good luck! I am always so impressed by anyone who can speak or read or write more than one language.
eeek! good luck! i’m in need of my b’s by may in order to keep my position…is stressful! but i’m sure you’ll do fine.
eeek! good luck! i’m in need of my b’s by may in order to keep my position…is stressful! but i’m sure you’ll do fine.
Wear velcro and Good LUCK! I have a secerct goal to be able to converse in french at ease. I can converse but there is no ease in it at all.
Waiting to hear your results.
CYBER HUGS
Wear velcro and Good LUCK! I have a secerct goal to be able to converse in french at ease. I can converse but there is no ease in it at all.
Waiting to hear your results.
CYBER HUGS
Good Luck, Dani. I sure wish I knew how to say that in French, but I don’t. I’ll send positive vibes your way!
Good Luck, Dani. I sure wish I knew how to say that in French, but I don’t. I’ll send positive vibes your way!
La bonne chance et porte un bon soutien-gorge !
La bonne chance et porte un bon soutien-gorge !
Good luck Dani. I’m sure you’ll do well.
When I go back to work, I’ll need to go on French language training to achieve BBB level for my position. I’m not looking forward to it.
Donna
Good luck Dani. I’m sure you’ll do well.
When I go back to work, I’ll need to go on French language training to achieve BBB level for my position. I’m not looking forward to it.
Donna
Félicitations! Oui…Non? Ãtes-vous un “B”? Vous serez toujours “A” à moi. Ou non, un “C”. Oui, un “C”.
Cripes, this is confusing. Pick a good letter and that’s from me.
Félicitations! Oui…Non? Ãtes-vous un “B”? Vous serez toujours “A” à moi. Ou non, un “C”. Oui, un “C”.
Cripes, this is confusing. Pick a good letter and that’s from me.
Personally I think “K” is pretty awesome. Bonne chance avec votre examen, Dani! I’m sure you’ll do just fine – it’s not for nothing you had lessons averaging 3-4 hours a week. YOU CAN DO THIS, trust yourself!
(This comment has been brought to you by the letter “K”)
Personally I think “K” is pretty awesome. Bonne chance avec votre examen, Dani! I’m sure you’ll do just fine – it’s not for nothing you had lessons averaging 3-4 hours a week. YOU CAN DO THIS, trust yourself!
(This comment has been brought to you by the letter “K”)
well?
well?
Waiting? I bet she passed and is out with RDJ having a Rocin good time!
Waiting? I bet she passed and is out with RDJ having a Rocin good time!
Bien sûr elle a fait bien – elle a bourré probablement les réponses dans le bon soutien-gorge j’ai dit qu’elle porte !
Bien sûr elle a fait bien – elle a bourré probablement les réponses dans le bon soutien-gorge j’ai dit qu’elle porte !
Stupid translation software! How can it turn “bra” into “throat”?!
I guess that’s why we need more people like Dani.
(swooning sigh with flutterin eyelashes)
Stupid translation software! How can it turn “bra” into “throat”?!
I guess that’s why we need more people like Dani.
(swooning sigh with flutterin eyelashes)
You guys crack me up!
Sorry, I didn’t realize you’d be waiting for an update. You’ll have to wait 3 to 5 business days for the results like the rest of us. It *seemed* to go well, but I’ve screwed this up before.
I promise I’ll tell ya’ll when I find out!
(And Marla – I’m impressed!)
You guys crack me up!
Sorry, I didn’t realize you’d be waiting for an update. You’ll have to wait 3 to 5 business days for the results like the rest of us. It *seemed* to go well, but I’ve screwed this up before.
I promise I’ll tell ya’ll when I find out!
(And Marla – I’m impressed!)
Hope you passed!
Hope you passed!
Impressed that I used a free translation site to tell you to wear a good bra, and then suggest that you did well because you stuffed the answers in said bra? And then I double checked it with another site, to find out that the free site substituted “throat” for “bra”? Man, I really hope you passed if you think I even know how to make my computer do the accent thingies!
Impressed that I used a free translation site to tell you to wear a good bra, and then suggest that you did well because you stuffed the answers in said bra? And then I double checked it with another site, to find out that the free site substituted “throat” for “bra”? Man, I really hope you passed if you think I even know how to make my computer do the accent thingies!
Hahaha! Marla, I didn’t see your second note (I’d had the window open for a few minutes when I posted), and I have to admit, I didn’t know what exactly you meant by “soutien-gorge” but because I understood the rest of it I assumed it was me who didn’t understand and that you had some sort of weird bilingual Texas upbringing!
Hahaha! Marla, I didn’t see your second note (I’d had the window open for a few minutes when I posted), and I have to admit, I didn’t know what exactly you meant by “soutien-gorge” but because I understood the rest of it I assumed it was me who didn’t understand and that you had some sort of weird bilingual Texas upbringing!
I would rather take an exam on biophysics (I know nothing about this) than a French exam. Oh, the pain. I feel for you!
I would rather take an exam on biophysics (I know nothing about this) than a French exam. Oh, the pain. I feel for you!